The words Stephen Harper and AIDS have appeared together in many situations, but never quite like this.
At a busy intersection in Toronto stands a two-metre tall sculpture created from the letters that spell AIDS, the four letters compressed into two rows within a perfect square. An angry would-be artist scrawled "Stephen Harper you shame us!!" on the base of the statue.
The Prime Minister has been criticized for not attending the International AIDS Conference in Toronto.
The artist who helped create the sculpture isn't concerned at all that people are drawing on his work — he is actually encouraging people to add their own message.
"It's a site for dialogue; it's intended to be written on. It's like a public blackboard," said AA Bronson, one of the Canadian artists who created the piece in 1989.
The comments written on the sculpture usually mirror the issues at the moment, but they are generally AIDS-related, Bronson said. This is the first time a message has been directed at a specific political figure, he said.
"There has never been something so pointed before. It's always been much more general," Bronson said.
From the outrage directed at Mr. Harper for not making at least a cameo walk-on, you'd think that he'd been boiling up fresh superstrong airborne AIDS virus in his secret underground lair to unleash on the unsuspecting citizens of Toronto as his greatest evil revenge yet!!! BWAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHA!
Yet if he had shown up, he would not have been thanked for coming, but made another target of gratuitous abuse and undeserved blame for the spread of AIDS.
So why give these people the satisfaction?
Let them rant on about this non-issue while the grownups actually deal with the real problems surrounding AIDS.
Source: Toronto Star
5 comments:
Let them rant on about this non-issue
is it really a non-issue? it's bad optics at the very least. i don't agree that his attendance would have hurt him.his absence isn't going to help him. harper's decision not to attend won't hurt him with the party faithful but some of the soft support that is already trickling away due to other policy blunders is further eroded.
Jeff:
Stop and consider for a moment what the purpose of this conference was?
Was it so that the people that fight this disease can meet and discuss measures and medical advancements?
Or was it a protest rally against Stephen Harper?
If the later, then the heart on sleeve group hugfest photo-op with two Bills and a Dick didn't achieve anything in the way of fighting aids.
BTW
Our head of state did attend, that would be the Governor General.
Harper made the right decision to stay away. Canadians don't pay him to make cameo appearances at AIDS shows and will appreciate that he's not buying into all that celebrity disease crap.
People dying of AIDS realize that they're just bit players in these shows, they can take a number - or rather they are just a number when the credits roll.
This statue and what was scrawled on it was the backdrop of a Global Toronto News at 6 feature either Monday or Tuesday night.
The words "Stephen Harper, you shame us" were very prominent behind the reporter, as she gave her story.
To the unknown graffiti "artist":
Grow up and take some responsibility for your life choices.
If YOU feel shame for the results of your life and lifestyle choices, don't blame someone who you have never met, and who has not expressed an opinion on you.
If you feel shame, it is your sense of shame that drives it.
s it is, I understand that more money is spent, per capita, on HIV/AIDS than on any other disease. Given that HIV/AIDS is 100% preventable (among consenting individuals), this seems a little out of proportion.
Post a Comment